HOLLINGER 
pH8.5 

MILL RUN F3-1543 



: 416 
.P94 

^^P"^ CALIFORNIA AND NEW MEXICO. 



SPEECH 



OF 



MR. WM. B. PRESTON, OF VIRGINIA,. 



IN 



THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEBRUARY 7, 1849, 



ON THE 



FORMATION OF A NEW STATE OUT OF THE TERRI- 
TORIES OF CALIFORNIA AND NEW MEXICO. 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY J. & G. S. GIDEON . 
1849. 



SPEECH. 



The Committee of the Whole ITouse on the State of the Union having under consideratio n 
the bill making appropriations for ccrUun fortifications for the United Statts, for the year ending 
-30th June, 1S50, (Mr. Morehead, of Kentucky, in the chair) — 

Mr. PRESTON moved to strike out the first section of the bill. He under- 
stood, he said, that, under the rule of the House, on a bill of this character, he 
would be at liberty to ex]:)ress his opinions upon any such topics connected with 
the general welfare of the country as his taste or his inclination might suggest 
to him. For that reason he would ask the Clerk to read a paper which he held 
in his hand, as introductory to the speech which he proposed to make to the 
House on this occasion. 

The Clerk thereupon read the following bill: 

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Stales of America in 
Congi-ess assembled, That tlie Congress doth consent that a new State may be erected out of and 
including all thu territory ceded to the United States by the treaty of peace, friendship, limits, 
and settlement with the Republic of Mexico, concluded 2d February, 1848, with a republican 
form of government, to be adopted by the inhabitants of said territory, assembled by delegates 
in convention, as hereinafter provided for that purpose, in order that the said State may be ad- 
mitted into this Union. 

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the foregoing consent of Congress is given upon the 
following reservations and conditions : First. That the United States hereby unconditionally re- 
serves to the Federal Government all right of property in the ]3uhlic domain, and other property 
ceded to the United States by the treaty of peace aforesaid, free from all taxes or assessments 
of any kind by the said State; and, also, the power nf disposing of the same, including the right 
of adjusting all claim and title to land derived from foreign governments, in such manner as Con- 
gress shall prescribe. Second. That the new State shall be formed and its government adopted 
prior to the first day of October, in the year of our Lord 1349. 

Sec 3. And be it further enacted. That, on the said first day of October, 1349, the said new 
State having been thus formed by the name and style of the State of California, and with the 
consent of the people thereof, shall be received and admitted into the Union as a new and entire 
member of the United States of America. 

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the actihg Governor of California, so soon as he shall 
be provided with a copy of this act, to the end that the people may have an opportunity of 
establishing for themselves a constitution end republican form of government for said State prior 
to the first day of October next, shall immediately proceed to lay off the country, embraced 
within the limits of the proposed Stats, into convenient districts for the election of delegates to a 
convention for the purpose of forming a State constitution, and shall designate the time and place 
■of holding the election in each district, appoint the officers to conduct the same, and prescribe 
tlie mode of making the returns thereof, and shall apportion the delegates, fifty in all, among 
the several districts, as near as may be, according to the number of legal voters in each ; 
and he shall also designate the time and place for the assembling of said convention. Every 
white male inhabitant of said Territory, being an actual resident of the proposed State, and hav- 
ing attained the age of twenty-one years, shall be entitled to vote at said election. 

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the State of Calit'ornia, when admitted into this Union, 
in conformity with the provisions of this act, shall be entitled and continue to be entitled, until 
the next general census, to two Representatives in the House of Representatives of the United 
States ; and in all other respects, as far as they may be applicable, the laws of the United States 
shall extend to, and have force in, the State of California. 

Mr. PRESTON then proceeded to address the committee as follows: 
Mr. Chairman: Those who have listened to the reading of the bill will un- 
questionably concur with me in the fact, that the proposition which I propose 



to discuss is one of great gravity and of vast interest to this whole nation^ 
Some two weeks ago I moved to make the Territorial bills the special order of 
the day for Tuesday week last. Other bills, however, had priority over them. 
I began to be apprehensive that I might not have the opportunity I desired to 
offer the bill just read as a substitute for the Territorial bills ; and I felt that it 
was proper that I should avail myself of this the first opportunity I have had to 
present the views I entertain on this great and momentous question. 

I suppose I need not offer any apology for appearing before this House to-day 
I have rarely troubled them in the short period during which I have been hon- 
ored with a seat here. I have listened attentively and patiently to the discus- 
sion of this slave question — a question which deeply involves the interest and 
feelings of the country which I represent, and of the whole country which I 
love. I have listened, day after day, calmly and carefully. I have not in any- 
wise attempted to foment or increase those feelings which parties and sections, 
and personal aspiration and ambition, have thrown around it. I have not here- 
tofore, and shall not upon this occasion, go into the consideration of the ques- 
tion which gentlemen have discussed here so long, so ably, so patiently, as to 
the merits or demerits of our peculiar system in the South, or the merits of 
those principles which gentlemen of the North propose to lead in by Congres- 
sional legislation here upon us. I shall not go into the question as to who have 
produced the evils, and who are responsible for the difiiculties, which surround 
us. I shall address myself to the remedies which suggest themselves to my 
mind, for difficulties and dangers acknowledged by all. It has been called the 
great question of the age. I will attempt to try it by the great principle of the 
age. Having taken my stand deliberately and determinedly on this question,, 
on this day and this hour, I stake myself upon the principles of this bill. I 
stake myself upon the principle which I propose now to explain and illustrate;, 
and I hope and believe that the good men, and the calm men, and the wise^ 
men of all parties, will forget the sectional and party questions Vv'hich divide 
them, and come forward upon a remedy that commends itself by every princi- 
ple which lies at the foundation of that Government which we have made, or 
which, I should rather say, our fathers have made for us, and that we should 
apply that very rule to the Government of that country v^'hich fortune, arms, 
and conquest have brought within our control. 

I might make another remark. In the great calamity, and in the great em- 
barrassment which have overclouded the land, I feel what all men feel in ad- 
versity and distress — that the very emergency, the very exigency which is 
upon the country, takes from us the general responsibility which attaches to 
all, and fixes upon each and all of us an individual responsibility that makes 
me, humble as I am, feel that I have the burdens of all. 

The proposition which I ofTer, I offer as a substitute for the territorial billa 



now on your table. Let us for one moment examine the principles upon which 
the territorial bill rests. What, sir, is this territorial government, and what 
the true character of that issue upon which we are dividing this empire, and 
producing this great distraction in the land ? Is it one of the original objects 
and ends of this Government to hold and to retain territorial dominion ? Is it 
anything but a trust power, which is declared in the Constitution, in a single 
clause, which I will not stop to read, not as the basis upon which we should, 
in the hereafter and in the thereafter, legislate for the creation, for the mainte- 
nance, far the advancement of proconsular territorial governments abroad? 
That is not the Constitution under which we live. The territorial power con- 
strued either as gentlemen from the North or as gentlemen from the South con. 
strue it, is but a secondary power or trust in this Government. What is the 
primary trust ? What is this power which was given to admit new States ? 
What is this power in the Constitution, in which it is declared that wo shall 
make such rules and regulations as are necessary for the government of the 
territories, made for ? Was it that this House should be converted into a mu- 
nicipal legislature ? Was it that we should spend days, weeks, months, and 
years in legislating upon distant and small territorial questions — strictly munici- 
pal questions ? No, sir. The great trust — the great power — the great reason 
■why that clause in the Constitution was introduced, was upon this principle, 
and this alone. Sir, territorial dominion was given to us, not that we might 
place slavery there, or freedom there — not that we might go into municipal leg- 
islation in detail for these provinces — but it was that we should rear up there 
sovereign and independent States. That is the primary trust in the Constitu- 
tion. The territorial trust is limited in its duration. In the first resolution, in 
relation to the cession of territory by the States, under the old Confederation, 
before we had entered upon the form of Government under which we have so 
happily lived, in that resolution, (which I have before me, but which I will not 
occupy the time of the House by reading,) it was declared that we shall create 
sovereio-n States. And we were invited — Vircrinia was invited — to cede her 

o o 

lands to create sovereign States; when? As soon — at the very first moment — at 
the very first period of time that the imperative law of necessity ceased to exist, 
by which they were kept in territorial subjection. Whenever the period had 
arrived that there was a population there large enough in numbers, the great 

■primary object of the trust arose instantly, and on the spot; and he who keepa 
these people in territorial bondage keeps them in oppression, for the first greatl 
primary trust is that they shall become sovereign States. ::' 

How was it again in the ordnance of 1787? In that very ordinance it is de- 
clared, in terms, that as soon as sixty thousand people are found in the Terri- 

itory, and sooner if possible, they shall be admitted as a State. What does all. 
this look to? S r, it looks to the great proposition that our forefathers intended. 



at the first moment of time, to bring every citizen of this nation upon the' 
broad, elevated American platform of popular sovereignty, resting with the 
people and with no government whatsoever. 

Sir, in the treaty of Louisiana, out of w^hich we have made territories, the 
plirase there is, that they shall be brought in " as soon as possible" — at the 
earliest moment of time. In this Mexican treaty it is declared that they shall. 
be brought in at the discretion of Congress. Aye, but it is a discretion to be 
exercised upon the principle of the trust. It is a j udicial discretion ; it is a 
legal discretion. It is a discretion in accordance with the principles of our 
Government. It is no arbitrary power; it is no arbitrary discretion which 
authorizes you to withhold from them that right while you plant slavery there^ 
"while you plant a tariff there, or while you plant your ^'no slavery" doctrines 
there; or, indeed, while you plant any particular system of policy there. That 
is not the principle. The principle is, that the trust must be resigned at the 
first moment of time at which you can possibly discharge yourself of it. 

Sir, look for one moment at this question in another aspect; and what is it? 
In any form it is but a transient and temporary question. Gentlemen are 
arraying themselves against each other, declaring that they v/ill have, or will 
not have, Wilmot provisoism. Gentlemen say, ''resistance or submission." 
No, sk; no sir; that is not the true issue in this question. The mere lapse of 
time, the mere operation of nature, the progress of our population, removes 
that issue, and shows how futile and how erroneous it is. That is not the 
question. The question passes from under gentlemen who take that ground. 
Then what is it? We talk here about dissolving this Union; we talk about des- 
troying our institutions; w^e talk about abandoning all the past, and all the glo- 
rious prospects of the future, because, forsooth, we will squabble over the dis- 
tribution of a trust subject and a trust fund. We, the mere trustee, holding it 
but for an hour or a day, quarrel and destroy all our institutions, while there are 
the people of California — the cesiui que trust — they to whom it belongs, they 
who are prim.arily entitled to it, ask and demand of you that you should not 
quarrel over the distribution of the trust fund, but that you should come up and 
surrender that trust subject itself into the hands of those who are its legitimate 
owners, that a sovereign State may be created out of it. 

Sir, the bill which I advocate takes other grounds. I have shown the de- 
merits of these territorial bills. I have shown that you are staking yourselves 
upon a temporary issue. I have shown that you are staking yourselves upon 
an issue, and upon the division of a fund, and upon the division of a spoil, that 
does not belong to us but for the fulfilment of the primary object of that trust; 
and the day and the hour when it belonged to us is past, and it belongs to 
them, for they are in condition to assume it for themselves, and exercise it 
according to the principles of our Government. 



Again, sir, I offer this bill because, in the first clause, it declares that the 
people of California shall be at hberty to make a government for themselves. 
Look at the principle there. You have, as I am informed, one hundred and 
fifty thousand of your citizens there now. You wiU have, before this biU can 
go into operation, two hundred thousand there, which is twice or thrice as 
large a population as most of the States ever had when they were admitted into 
the Union. I ask you, who is there here who can stand back and refuse the 
surrender of the trust upon any grounds — personal, individual, sectional, or 
partisan? I ask you who, sir? None. None of you can; none of you ought. 

The bill which I propose, in the first section, simply gives the consent of 
Congress to the people of CaUfornia and New Mexico to create a government 
for themselves. The bUls of the committee make governments in these halls, 
and send them in imperial power and strength to a reluctant people. The biU 
which I advocate invites the people of California, and affords them the facili- 
ties for the creation of a government founded upon their own will. It re- 
nounces the exercise of your territorial authority and jurisdiction. It recog- 
nises the great principle of popular supremacy and popular government. Sir, 
in that it but acknowledges the truth Vv^hich is seen and felt at this moment aU 
over the eartli — the great truth, that popular constitutional government is the 
great self-sustaining machine of this age, possessing within itself aU the virtue, 
aU the strength, all the wisdom necessary for its creation, its preservation, its 
perpetuation. It requires no masters to direct its actions. It submits to no 
kings and rulers to control its councils. It requires no armies to maintain its 
existence. It is omnipotent here to-day. It will be omnipresent in Europe 
to-morrow. The next day it will be omnipresent and omnipotent everywhere. 
Who can resist it? I am a Virginian, and come here representing a commu- 
nity intimately connected and deeply interested in the "peculiar institutions" 
of the South; but upon what do they rest? Shall I keep this territorial question 
here, that, under the exercise of this arbitrary and tyrannical power — this 
power of making governments here for a people abroad — I may carry my insti- 
tutions there? Why, if there is any thing gi-eat and venerable in the past, and 
in the recollections of us Virginians, it is that a foreign government, not fur- 
ther from us on that shore than our friends in California are on the other, 
could not and ought not, upon every principle upon which our Constitution 
and Government are formed, control and direct our legislation. Our slave 
institutions are based upon it. It is the right of the people in Virginia and 
Georgia to judge for themselves. Their protection and safety is in giving to 
the people of the States, and to the States themselves in their sovereign 
capacity, control over this subject; that there is no power here or any where 
but with the people of the States deciding for themselves as to their institutions 
and form of government. That is the principle upon which I place this whole 
question. 



But again: the difficulty with gentlemen peculiarly sensitive upon points of 
honor is, that the South, while the President tells us, while the Cabinet tells 
us, while orators tell us, that slavery can never go there; \vhile we hear that 
and beheve it; while Virginia is told that the climate, soil, and position ol" this 
territory do not and will not permit us to carry our slaves there, we are told 
that there is some great, abiding, solemn question of honor that every southern 
man, who does not stand up to, is recreant to himself and forgetful of his an- 
cestors. Now, I yield to no man on these points, I have yet yielded to no 
man on these points. Let us see how it is. The great merit of the bill which 
I present is, that it is a biU under which neither party is victorious, and neither 
party overcomes. It is no compromise at all, and therefore it recommends 
itself to me above any other proposition that has as yet been suggested. In 
all other suggestions or propositions which have been offered for disposing of 
it, there is a question of compromise; and the goodness or badness of the bar- 
gain, the extent of the demand you make on the one side, the spirit with 
which you stand up to it, and the courage or sagacity with which you main- 
tain it, are all questions to be weighed, considered, and decided. How is it 
in this bill? Here are a people, numbering two hundred thousand, asking you 
to surrender the trust, to give them the rights guarantied to them, and for 
which this acquisition of territory was made; and I ask you, does the point of 
honor forbid your giving it up to them? I do not ask my friends of the North 
to surrender any thing to us. I do iiot, as a southern man, surrender any 
thing to them The spirit of republicanism, the spirit of popular supremacy, 
comes at this "fourth watch of the night" over this tumultuous and tempestu- 
ous ocean, walking upon the waters, and saying, in the language of old, "Be 
of good cheer; it is I, be not afaid." It is but the spirit of the Revolution — it 
is but the spirit of our institutions that calls upon us. I shall not resist it. If 
there is dishonor in not resisting it, I submit to the impeachment. If there is 
principle in submission to it, I claim for it, Avhen the bill comes up, the votes 
of all gentlemen who feel that it is aprivilege and an honor to bow down to that 
before which our fathers of old made tyrants and governments bow down. 
That is my second reason. It is no compromise. I prefer it above the Mis- 
souri compromise. I am going to hold nothing back. Here is my proposition, 
gentlemen of the North and gentlemen of the South. I prefer it above the 
Missouri compromise for this reason : Carry the line to the Pacific. Let it 
be decided that we have the right to the south and you to the north of that 
line; still — the territorial question being, as in the beginning I attempted to 
show, but a limited and temporary one — the great, solemn question as to the 
prohibition of slavery comes back upon us again in the creation of a State. If 
our citizens have gone there under the guarantee of the Missouri compromise; 
jf there are more citizens for our institution than against it there, three, or 



four, or five years hence, there is to be a new struggle, a new convulsion, new 
mischief, and new calamities. Presidential aspirants take hold of it. Ambi- 
tious gentlemen take hold of it. Partisan presses and leaders take hold of it. 
1 10 ant repose, and the bill now offered gives finality to the guestion. I want the 
question ended. I want it ended under this great principle that I have so feeblj 
attempted to enforce. 

I prefer it again to the compromise bill of last year. It is a better measure 
for the South, and a better measure for the North. Look for one moment at that 
compromise. It proposed to submit to the Judiciary of the United States thia 
question, to be by them decided — whether we could, while that government is 
In a territorial condition, carry our slaves there? Suppose they decided for the 
South — suppose they decided for the North — what is the effect of the decision.^ 
Three or four years — no, not one year — would elapse, even before the case 
could be made, before the decision could be pronounced by the Supreme Court, 
the people of California would come here and say — We want no such decision; 
we are going to form a State government. Your law with regard to slavery in the 
Territory is a matter of no importance to us. We are about to become sovereign. 
We have now reached that period when, like men, we can walk; and we will 
not ask your hand to sustain or uphold us. We come as Americans; we say 
we have rights; we do not beg them as favors, we demand them as rights ap- 
pertaining to us as American citizens. Before the question could be settled by 
the court, the State is admitted as a sovereign and independent State. During 
this period we are exposed to all the evils which result from the agitation and 
disturbance of this most pernicious question, both in these Halls and through- 
out the whole land. 

What, then, is the great desideratum? I am not one of those who look most 
gloomily at the results of this slave question. I cannot believe there is the 
danger which many suppose; but I know there is, nevertheless, great danger. 
The bill which I propose has a merit which no other measure possesses. It is 
not wholly my measure; it would be in bad taste for me to speak of it in so 
strong terms of commendation if it were. The great principle of introducing 
Ihese Territories as States belongs to others. I have only adopted and applied 
that principle to the exigencies of the present period. 

But, to go on with the argument: I want finality to this question. How can 
;it be attained? How can this question be relieved from perpetual agitation, but 
by the enactment of a law assenting to the surrender of this territorial power 
to those to whom it belongs, and taking it from us, to whom it does not belong, 
except in one event, in that necessity alone which would compel us to retain 
.them as territories; and that has wholly passed and gone by in these now under 
•consideration. 

I offer you another reason. I deal in no declamation. I am attempting to 



10 

put this question on its true, important, fundamental principle. I do not depart 
from it. The bill which I propose differs from that of the very distinguished — 
and, I take this occasion to say, the very patriotic and determined — Senator in 
the other end of this Capitol, in this: it proposes to embrace all the territory 
ceded by Mexico to the United States. Andv.'hy? Why is the word "all" 
inserted in the bill? This is the view which I take of this subject: In the joint 
resolutions for the annexation of Texas to the United States, among other con- 
ditions, it was stipulated that " said State was to be formed subject to the ad- 
justment by this Government of all questions of boundary that may arise with 
other governments." By this provision, the power was delegated by the State 
of Texas to the Government of the United States to settle and adjust her 
boundary with Mexico, which at that time was an open and undecided ques- 
tion. The United States assumed the trust and duty of adjusting that question 
with foreign nations. The right was a right under the resolutions of annexa- 
tion, to settle ii for her. Texas and the United States both looked to its adjust- 
ment by treaty with Mexico. Both looked to its adjustment by negotiation with 
Mexico. The President and Senate, as the treaty -making power, was that to 
which it was submitted, and through which it was to be effected. They 
have not fulfilled the trust; they have not "adjusted all questions of bound- 
ary which arose with other governments." They are now unable to do 
so. The agent has, without discharging his functions or duty, appropriated 
to himself all the trust subject — all the lands in controversy, and others 
beside. It is aU mingled and blended under one grant. There is no 
line of division. What were the rights of Texas, or what were the undisputed 
lands of Mexico ceded to the United States, have not been settled by negotia- 
tion, have not been adjusted between this Government and other governments. 
There is no line of division; there is no line of separation. And the questioa 
now is, who is to decide? The trustee? He who claims it for himself when 
he was commissioned and intrusted to settle it for another? He who was sent 
abroad to adjust the title with another, acquires the other's title and sets that 
up for himself against his principal and in violation of his trust. He who was 
sent abroad to treat for another, comes back with the treaty, conveying all t© 
himself. He who assumed, as guardian and defender, to protect and maintain 
the rights of his ward, and the cause of the feeble, comes back m his power 
and demands the whole. Nay, more, sir; comes back and assumes that it is 
not only his, but that he is the sole and supreme judge of the question? Did 
Congress declare, or do the joint resolutions declare, that in the failure to ad- 
just the question of boundary with Mexico, they thereby appropriated the ter- 
ritory in controversy to themselves, and became the masters of the subject.^ 
Oh no, sir ! We are, all of us, too good lawyers to maintain such a proposi- 
tion. We are too just, as men, to insist on such terms. Who, then, is to set- 



11 

tie this question as to the boundary of Texas? Shall Congress do it? Certain- 
ly not; she is a party to the controversy. The question is one between her and 
Texas, and she cannot decide in her own case. I repeat the interrogatory: who, 
then, is to settle the question; and how is it to be settled? Sir, the bill I have 
presented provides a mode and manner of its settlement, in accordance with 
the Constitution, and in accordance with the wishes and rights of all. It de- 
clares "that a new State may be created out of and including aU that territory 
ceded to the United States by the treaty of peace, friendship, limits and settle- 
ment made with the Republic of Mexico, concluded the 2d February, 1848." 
It does not define, by metes and bounds, the lines of division between the new 
State thus created and the State of Texas, It grants all that is ours to the new 
State; and the new State takes it upon these terms in her grant. And then 
the question arises between Texas and the new State proposed to be created as 
to the true boundary between them. Here, then, are two coterminous States, 
with a simple question of boundary existing between them; California holding- 
all we had to give; Texas holding all she was entitled to as against Jvlexico, 
when she created us her trustee to adjust it. The Constitution, on its very 
face, in express terms, has provided and declared, that '' the judicial power 
shall extend to controversies betv/een two or more States." And thus the 
whole question is submitted to the judicial tribunals for their decision and their 
adjudication. 

See how beautifully the system works. Behold how harmoniously, and beau- 
tifully, and wisely those who framed it made it to work! These agitating ques- 
tions, upon which we have voted, and combated, and declaimed, one party af- 
firming and the other disaffirming the boundary of the Rio Grande, upon which 
we have gone into w^ar, and which have entered into our Presidential contests, 
and engrossed aU our party feelings and exertions, are all hushed and made si- 
lent by this bill; and the question is taken from this stormy tribunal, and from the 
popular agitations of the day, to that which has been provided by the Constitu- 
tion—into the lower story of the Capitol, where judgment will be pronounced 
with all the justice and aU the equity which do not belong to us, and with all 
the acquiescence which does belong to all American communities under the 
solemn decisions of her supreme judicial tribunals. This furnishes another rea- 
son why I have presented and now urge this bill. 

I will now proceed a moment with the details of this bill. Gentlemen honor 
me most signally with their attention. I suppose it proceeds from nothing but. 
the mere fact of my appearing so seldom before you. Let us look for one mo- { \ 
ment into the provisions of the bill. It consents to the creation of a State by 
the people of California and New Mexico, to take effect hereafter, on a day 
fixed in the bill. I am not going into the constitutional question. I have pre- 
pared, and have before me, a constitutional argument on that subject. I have 



12 

iiot time, under the one hour rule, to present it now. When the bill is brought 
forward, if the proviso is offered, I shall attempt to show that the question of 
tbe right of prescribing the Wilmot proviso is a very different one when appli- 
cable to a State, in the creation of a government and constitution for herself, 
from the question when applicable to a territorial government, such as is pro- 
vided by the bills no\v on your table, in which that proviso is inserted. 

I will merely state the points on which I rest the question. I have not time 
to elucidate them by argument. If the bill I advocate should find favor with 
the House; if the Territorial bills should be superseded ; if investigation and 
examination shall induce gentlemen to come to the conclusion, that the condi- 
tion of our country, both here and in California, requires that a State govern- 
ment should be created for the Territories — that the people there are entitled 
to such form of government — gentlemen of the North may insist on inserting 
this anti-slavery provision into this bill, as the condition on which the Territo- 
ries will be permitted to create a State government. 

The clause of the Constitution which guaranties to every State a republican 
form of Government, does not authorize Congress to interfere in the formation 
of a constitution. To say that we have the power to prescribe, is to declare 
that the people shall not create a constitution themselves. The very fact that 
you prescribe terms in its formation takes from it all its virtues, all its power, 
and subverts every principle on which it rests. 

But again: The idea that there is a right in this Government to control a 
State in the formation of any clause of its constitution, assumes the power that 
you have a right to alter, to amend, or to change that constitution. I will not 
enlarge on this proposition. I merely announce it. 

But again: The idea that this guarantee subjects the constitution of a State 
to the action of Congress, is in precise subversion and opposition to the prin- 
ciple on wliich it w^as made. That was a guarantee to each State against all 
the States. It was a guarantee that the State which had a republican form of 
government should not, by coming into this Union, be under the control of 
other States to abrogate or alter the constitution which they themselves have 
formed. 

My fourth point is, that this clause of the Constitution is not that Congress 
shall have the right to enforce this guarantee. The clause does not confer a 
power upon Congress. It simply imposes a duty upon the States to make good 
the rights and republican forms of government created by the people of the 
States for themselves. 

But there is another position. Those who made this Constitution did no 
work of supererogation or folly. The guarantee operates upon the State when 
admitted, and requires you to preserve a republican form of government, and 
that is the whole extent of the guarantee. I stated that the framera of the 



Constitution did no work of supererogation. They guarantied to .Virginia a re- 
publican form of government. Suppose that her constitution was such as at 
this day, according to our ideas, was bad in its character, and opposed to your 
views and opinions, have you the power to cite us here to try our constitution, 
and see whether it suits you of the North, or you of the West ? Why, the 
power is one which was intended for substantial purposes, for real purposes of 
self government. Suppose a State was admitted with a constitution prohibit- 
ing slavery, and the next day she turned round and repealed the provision; 
where is the power on earth to alter it ? 

Will you, gentlemen of the South, vote against the passage of this bill ? 
Do you come forward and say, we will have a territorial government nolens 
volens, that slavery shall go there, or this Union shall be severed ? Will gen- 
tlemen from the North say that this Government shall be dissolved if you take 
it there ? W^ill neither party agree to surrender this territorial power ? Do 
you say that we do not call for a rally of our friends merely in legislative halls;: 
but you call for that rally which presents itself "in battle's magnificently stern, 
array ?" Do you call me to that array ? Do you ask me to stand there, and. 
stand there by my vote, and by my own will resist this great principle of con- 
stitutional liberty and popular supremacy in the State governments ? If you 
do, I will not stand with you. The people will not stand with you. Justice 
is not with you. You war against the fundamental principles upon which our 
Government rests; upon which our institutions in the South can alone repose, 
in safety. 

Again: Gentlemen of the North, will you insist that the Wilmot proviso shall 
pass nolens volens ? Why, your orators demonstrate day after day that there can 
be no slavery there. A gentleman the other day demonstrated to his satisfaction 
that the people who were there when we took the country do not desire the 
institution; and he demonstrated further, that those who are going there do not 
desire it. He showed to you, and it may be true, I make the passing remark, 
that in this effort, this career to reduce the country to our possession, the North 
had the advantage over us, that those In favor of free institutions had the ad- 
vantage over us, which no power could check. Look, for a moment, at Vir- 
ginia and the South. If a slaveholder wants to emigrate and to take his slaves 
with him, it is a work of time. His business affairs must be arranged. He is 
a man of substance and property. He has to collect the last year's hire; he 
has to collect the proceeds of the sale of his farm, and that is not the work of 
a moment. But that is not the case with those emigrating: there from the North. 
Many of them are bold, intrepid young men, living on the Atlantic borders^ 
who take ship, and, on the wings of the wind, or with the velocity of steam, 
go there before a slaveholder can turn round. Who from the West go there ? 
The hardy hunter, who has no home except that bounded by the heavens and 



14 

the ocean. He throws his rifle on his shoulder, and, in the spirit of freedom, 
reaches it through boundless forests and trackless prairies. It is his country 
and his home; and he will arrive there and appropriate it, while the slave- 
holders are lingering about Virginia and South Carolina, attempting to get rid 
of their stock and their lands, and the thousand cares which surround us. 
Why, then, do gentlemen say we will have the Wilmot proviso, nolens volens t 
Is it in the mere consciousness of strength and of power ? Is it merely be- 
cause, in the wantonness of power, you choose, like Perditus, to despoil the 
lioness of her young ? You cannot do it; you will not do it. I offer this re- 
mark in no taunt. I say to gentlemen of the North, if you want this thing, 
leave it to a great principle, leave it to natural causes, leave it to the 
principles upon which the Government is formed. I tell you, if you do not, 
the reproach and responsibility will belong to you and attach to you, in 
this wantonness of power, of forcing upon us issues which are unnecessary to 
your ends, and intended for our degradation. I beg gentlemen to remember, 
it would be of all things the greatest fatuity and the greatest folly. That 
strong man of old, who pulled down the building and perished amid its ruins, 
^'was blind as well as strong." 

What is the argument with which our Northern friends meet us ? They say 
New Mexico is not prepared for a State Government. She must undergo ter- 
ritorial tutelage. Territorial tutelage ! Why, look at it ! In the beginning, 
when Kentucky, Tennessee, and Vermont were the objects upon which the 
minds of the framers of the Constitution rested, did they think that they 
needed territorial tutelage ? Was it to teach them principles of freedom ? No; 
the reason was that they were so few in number that they could not constitute 
a government. Tutelage ! You, in the great day and the great hour of this 
question, are you to stop, like a mere pedagogue, to teach New Mexico and 
California the A B C of political liberty, while the destruction of an empire 
and a government might learn you the last lesson of its overthrow ? Who, 
then, wants this delay ? The demagogue may want it. He who wants to 
agitate a Presidential question, Avho wants a sectional advantage; he who, be- 
cause he believes he is with the stronger, is willing to keep tha question to 
oppress the weaker — he may defeat it; and when it is defeated, it is a defeat 
by the union of the pedagogue and the demagogue, neither of whom recog- 
nises the principles on which this Government is founded. 

Sir, the territory is said to be too large. It is said that the population is 
sparsely, thinly scattered over it. Let it be so; what of it ? Take the State 
which the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas) wants; it includes almost all 
"the good land in that country. The residue is a barren and desolate region, 
where the population will be forever sparse. But what if it be ? Cannot they, 
under their State government, govern it as well as we ? Are we, through all 



15 

time, to convert this Hall from a hall of legislation upon grave questions, per- 
taining to the sovereignty of States, into one of municipal legislation for dis- 
tant and remote provinces ? No; it cannot and it ought not to be. 

Mr. Chairman, in adopting the course of policy which I have this day ad- 
vocated, and in offering this bill*, my opinions have been supposed to be adverse 
to those of the commonwealth which I in part represent. It may be so. If 
it is, I do not know it. I say this is a question which Ave are bound here to 
settle before this Congress adjourns. The acquisition of California has already 
cost us much of feeling, of treasure, and of life. But frugality, industry, and 
enterprise may restore the lost treasure and replenish our exhausted exchequer. 
New generations will rise up and supply the places of those whom battle and 
disease have removed from among us. But still it will cost greatly beyond its 
value, unless by our wisdom and moderation, in these halls, we hold fast to 
those things which were given us, and which still remain to us. It will cost 
too much, though all her high mountains were mountains of gold; though her 
broad ocean may repose on reefs of coral and on heaps of pearl, unless her 
pacific waive shall flow tranquilly, harmoniously, calmly to our shore, in sub- 
mission and homage to that standard of freedom and of union you have planted 
upon it. 

The task is ours to arrest the evil — the duty is upon us to confront the danger. 
The glory will be ours, if we are true to ourselves to meet and overcome it. 
Sir, some may suppose that there is individual hazard and danger in the strug- 
gle — that some of us may be lost and overthrown in the conflict. I do not be- 
lieve it. But let it be; it is but the attendant and incident to all actions that 
are ennobling and elevating. Sooner or later it will come to all of us; never on 
a field more worthy of the patriot. Let us attempt it now. Let us attempt it 
in that sentiment more to be cherished by the statesman than the soldier: 

"Since all must life resign, 

Those sweet rewards which decorate the brave 

'Tis folly to decline, 

And steal inglorious to the silent grave." 

In the proposition which I have submitted, and in the views which I have 
expressed to-day, I may not, in the opinion of some gentlemen, have met the 
views and opinions of Virginia. I tell you, Mr. Chairman, I have had my 
eyes full upon her. I have looked and dwelt and thought calmly and patient- 
ly upon this whole question. I have this day devoted myself to what I regard 
as her true honor, her present safety, her future glory and welfare. 1 have 
anxiously sought to serve her in the brief hour which is allotted me. I believe 
all her interests are indissolubly connected with the Constitution and the Union^ 
and in their maintenance I feel, humble as I am, I do her service. Sir, I may 
be mistaken, but I cannot be regardless or unmindful of her interest ; how 
could I be ? " She was and she is a mother to me." I owe her a sacrifice, if 



16 

her interest or honor demands it. And I am only worthy of her when I am 
wholly regardless of myself. 

The principles which I this day advocate are wide and universal — great prin- 
ciples, that belong exclusively neither to the North, the South, the East, nor the 
West. I ask gentlemen to come forward and submit to that controlling prin- 
ciple that will settle this question. I ask them to forget their party relations 
for a moment. I ask them to look around this broad empire, and see the. 
feverish, the painful, the unreasonable excitement that pervades all classes and 
all ranks. I ask them to witness the speeches which year after year are de- 
livered — the feverish, the morbid, and sickly excitement that pervades this 
Hall. Recognise this principle — adopt the remedy embodied in this bill, and 
it will come over this House and over this nation like the sweet breath of springs 
to the chamber of disease — healing, strengthening, renovating all of us, so that 
we shall take up our beds, like the man of old, and run the great and glorious 
republican career which lays so full before us. Come up, all of you, and settle 
this question. There may be an extreme party at the North; there may be an 
extreme party at the South. I say to you in confidence, (I am no prophet, and 
pretend to be none,) this is the only door through which these territories can 
be safely incorporated into our system — the only just, patriotic, and harmonious 
manner in which this question ever can be settled. You may defer it now ; 
but the men who defer it, who put it aside, saying that they are not ready now, 
and that they will attend to it at a " more convenient season," will be regard- 
ed as unwilling guests. There is a great conservative party in the country, to 
be found north and south, in every portion of the Union, who see, feel, and 
appreciate the principles on which this bill rests, and the propriety and neces- 
sity of sustaining them ; a broad clear highway is before them ; they will tread 
it in security and confidence. I do not mean the Whig or the Democratic, 
party ; it may be and will be constituted of both. But upon it will be found 
that great republican national party who can and will maintain the Constitution 
and the Union. There are extremes to be found both north and south on this 
question. They who suppose this Union can bejor will be dissolved on the is- 
sue of the Wilmot proviso, must and will be signally disappointed. I trust 
and believe the whole country will sustain the principle, and heartily and sin- 
cerely submit to the principle of popular and State sovereignty on which the 
proposed measure rests. 

The hammer fell — Mr. P's allotted hour having expired. 

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